יום שלישי, 3 באפריל 2012

Against Hate -- Ahad Ha'am for Palestinians

How could a nation rooted in Palestine for well over a thousand years be so easily plucked out and chased away at gunpoint? By now I knew this wasn't because of the inherently superior intelligence or even malevolence of our enemy. What was it then?

I didn't have any answers.

Nusseibeh, Sari with David, Anthony (2007) Once Upon a Country p. 121 Farras, Straus and Giroux New York

I will try to suggest a partial answer.

David (Dolik) Horovitz (1899-1979) was the founder and then the Governor of the Bank of Israel. In 1970, at that time he was 71 years old, he published his autobiography, Ha'etmol Sheli in Hebrew, which means My Yesterday in English. In 1920 he and Meir Yaari, who later became the legendary leader of Israeli Left, were among the founders of a Hashomer Hatzair kibbutz, Beytanya. The book caused a bitter controversy between the two young old men about Talmudic or dialectical shades in semi-private discussions they held 50 years before as if it happened yesterday. They recalled what transpired clearly not only because of outstanding memory and intelligence. The argument was well remembered becaust it dealt with vision and ambition of the allmost teenagers pioneers of the tiny, in present day terms, Third Immigration Wave or Aliyah, of less than 30,000 immigrants that came to Palestine in the years 1918 to 1924. These young men and women wanted to create new forms of personal, social and economic existence not only for Jews but for all humankind. The world knew nothing about them, and even within the world Zionist movement the whole Jewish population in Palestine at that time was a small minority. In spite of all that, the Third Aliyah created, in defiance to all expectations the social, political, ideological and military foundation for the future state of Israel.

The will and determination of a group of people to create new vision is the precondition for its success.

In my mind, the public understanding and poor scholarship missed the real history of the Holocaust. To exist in the Ghetto, in face of death everywhere and keep the family safe for another day called for immensely more bravery and courage than manifested by the conventional glory of military armed heroics. What was most remarkable, in spite of the knowledge that death is a day, a week, or in the best case few months away, is the fact that food and survival were not the only things that mattered for the Ghetto residents. They also created in the dreary reality theaters, schools, libraries and books. They revolted not only against the opressors but against the overpowering hate too.

Eva Sandler lost lost her two children and her husband in the Toulouse murder. In face of the disaster she remained self-composed and kept her trust in God. Furhermore, this remarkable woman obstinately refused to fall into the chaos of hate. “We, the Jews, we are not looking for revenge,” she said. Mass media, the loyal allies to terror, are much more interested in the assassin than in the mother of murdered children and their father. The God of ratings is not interested in honest courage. Mournig with no hate and lust for revenge is much more powerful than ranting of lesser human beings.

The major flaw of hatred is not faulty ethics or even deranged psychology, but the acceptance and confirmation of the alleged or true stereotype that the hated has of the hater. Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (1856 - 1927), primarily known by his Hebrew name and pen name, Ahad Ha'am, (Hebrew: אחד העם‎, lit. one of the people, Genesis 26:10) in his essay Imitation and Assimilation written in German in 1893 dealt at length with the cultural danger of adopting stereotypes of the “other” nation. Palestinians may learn something from it, rereading it will not damages the Jews either.

Arabs and Palestinians can choose peace or war with Jews. Be their choice as it may, hatred will serve it poorly.

On individual level many Arabs in Israel are most intelligent and and successful. Some of the best doctors are Arabs. As many antisemites who prefer to be treated by Jewish doctors, know, it is not easy to compete with Jewish physicians. Arabs are certainly able of great achievements in community and in nation and state building too. Getting rid of hatred is a step in this direction.

Sari Nusseibeh believes that Jews and Arabs are natural allies. Such view may seem overoptimistic, but Arab success in the long run could become a bridge for the two nations.